Source: http://news.scotsman.com

Eddie Barnes
Political Editor

....Last May, First Minister Alex Salmond won power on the back of a
one seat victory over Labour. One constituency, Cunninghame North, was
won with a majority of just 49. It later emerged that 1,015 votes had
been spoilt. In other seats the spoiled papers outweighed the winner's
majority, suggesting different results could have emerged if they had
been counted.

Full Story..

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Wrong-MSPs-elected-in-poll.4095379.jp

In article <f9e7f68b-7463-4694-b769-
5e6291c9bf5c@y18g2000pre.googlegroups.com>, jcurry99@googlemail.com says...
> Source: http://news.scotsman.com
> 
> Eddie Barnes
> Political Editor
> 
> ....Last May, First Minister Alex Salmond won power on the back of a
> one seat victory over Labour. One constituency, Cunninghame North, was
> won with a majority of just 49. It later emerged that 1,015 votes had
> been spoilt. In other seats the spoiled papers outweighed the winner's
> majority, suggesting different results could have emerged if they had
> been counted.
> 
> Full Story..
> 
> http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Wrong-MSPs-elected-in-poll.4095379.jp

Indeed. But in this case there are is one certainty - this is a post 
boosting troll. Discuss elsewhere. Totally irrelevant to aaue.

jcurry99@googlemail.com wrote:

<snip>
> In other seats the spoiled papers outweighed the winner's
> majority, suggesting different results could have emerged if they had
> been counted.

Amazing to think it took an 'expert' to work that one out, Major.

-- 
GM

In article , newshound@gmx.net says...
> jcurry99@googlemail.com wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> > In other seats the spoiled papers outweighed the winner's
> > majority, suggesting different results could have emerged if they had
> > been counted.
> 
> Amazing to think it took an 'expert' to work that one out, Major.

I would suggest an immeadiate re-run.

Somehow I doubt if Labour or the Lib-Dems would be in favour of that 
though.

On 22 May, 07:35, GM  wrote:

# In other seats the spoiled papers outweighed the winner's
# majority, suggesting different results could have emerged if they
had
# been counted.

> Amazing to think it took an 'expert' to work that one out, Major.

Well, yes, and if some of the Lib Dem votes had been counted as Labour
votes, that would have affected the outcome as well. This whole
episode is sour grapes by a party that's used to thinking it has the
right to rule. 1,015 people spoiled their ballot paper because they
didn't understand how they were supposed to vote. You can't just grab
the 1,015 spoilt papers and count them as Labour votes, or whatever.
If in the opinion of the Returning Officer they are spoiled votes,
then they don't count towards any political party. If you want the
Labour Party to win an election, it had better have policies that
appeal to the electorate more strongly than the SNP's policies do. The
rules about how to vote are absolutely clear, and so are the
instructions to voters on what to do if you accidentally spoil your
ballot paper.

It's unfortunate that the MSPs decided on an electoral system that the
electorate didn't understand, but that's a separate issue.

Ken Johnson